NVIDIA under x11 stutters on KDE 6.0.3

Naarmu · March 31, 2024, 6:54pm

Hi everyone,
I want to ask is it is it normal that NVIDIA kind of stutter almost on everything under x11? Like dragging windows,folders around the screen, opening folders and such all the animations are not smooth, stuttering.

I jumped to Endeavour OS not long ago. At that time it already installed with KDE 6.xx. I know NVIDIA can be a bit difficult at times with Linux and KDE 6.xx is pretty new, so I wonder who is at fault here and if there is a way to fix it or just wait for KDE to be updated.

I feel like it’s NVIDIA fault here since my friend’s PC is with Endeavour OS also, using AMD GPU and everything is smooth as a silk there.

Noroc · March 31, 2024, 7:07pm

Are you sure its on x11? I have the exact same issue you have but it only started only recently after the big upgrade to wayland/kde.

Can you open up system settings-> about this system → and show what you have under software?

It should look something like this.

w8t715ct · March 31, 2024, 7:08pm

Yes, I’m experiencing the same thing. Switching between desktops with open applications lower the fps. You can check this out by enabling show fps in desktop effect.

I switched to wayland and the stutter is gone. Explicit sync is not a big problem for me because applications I use can be forced as native wayland.

Naarmu · March 31, 2024, 7:14pm

proof

Glad to see I am not the only one with the same issue.

Naarmu · March 31, 2024, 7:16pm

Wayland does indeed work smoother, just some games tend to have lower FPS under it. How can you force an application to run under Wayland or is it just automatic?

Noroc · March 31, 2024, 7:23pm

To go from wayland to x11 you can logoff and then before signing back in select x11 from the drop down, and then sign in.

I just did it and you can see that it has switched.

From the screenshot I can see that you have not updated the kernel version compared to mine. Is there a reason for that?

Noroc · March 31, 2024, 7:26pm

never mind your using the lts version.

I have never used that version before.

w8t715ct · March 31, 2024, 7:49pm

I don’t game on wayland. My xwayland applications are electron, so I use some flags.

ajgringo619 · March 31, 2024, 8:11pm

Not happening here, with either the LTS or mainline kernels, with my Nvidia 4060.

xircon · March 31, 2024, 10:12pm

What he said, no issues here, RTX3070. What do you have in your /etc/kernel/cmdline?

Noroc · April 1, 2024, 12:44am

I have

nvme_load=YES nowatchdog rw root=UUID=19afa6e1-261c-4fa6-86ac-0c03a48a88c6 nvidia-drm.modeset=1

Naarmu · April 1, 2024, 10:48am

I have also RTX3070

And in my /etc/kernel/cmdline I have
nvme_load=YES nowatchdog rw root=UUID=f677ee5f-f944-4d0a-8288-2c63edb9e9c3 nvidia-drm.modeset=1 pci=nommconf

pci=nommconf Without this my system just randomly freezes and stays in that state until I reboot and it can happen again at any moment.

These freezes happened also on Linux Mint(ubuntu) and Manjaro.

Naarmu · April 1, 2024, 11:10am

I tried with 6.6LTS and 6.8 kernels, no difference same stutters on both with x11. I have other issues like my icons arrangement, wallpapers don’t get saved after a reboot. The only way I can save the changes if I logout and login again, so I think this might be an KDE issue.

I sometimes wonder if it’s my BIOS, I have never updated it and need to install Windows to update it if I have to.

I would use wayland but I have other issues like for example Steam app is just flickering at random points. On Firefox(flatpak) the mouse cursor is larger when the app is opened and some other odd graphical glitches mostly flickering.

xircon · April 1, 2024, 12:03pm

quiet nvme_load=YES nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia-drm.fbdev=1 nowatchdog rw root=UUID=1fe53a1a-6f4f-47df-a8cd-2f3d78155d7c resume=UUID=0942ac91-77f1-46a0-b31e-e10933c7b1bb

I added nvidia-drm.fbdev=1 yesterday, can’t get steam to run on Hyprland. It made no difference to Steam.

Interestingly, I am getting occasional hard lock ups too, will remove the fbdev and try the nommconf

Naarmu · April 1, 2024, 12:15pm

Tried nvidia-drm.fbdev=1 back then on Manjaro and I didn’t see any changes or benefits so I don’t use it now on EOS. I hope that pci=nommconf helps you out .

xircon · April 1, 2024, 12:34pm

Streaming a movie, so can’t reboot, but made the changes

Mandarine · May 8, 2024, 5:23pm

Any news on this? I have the same issue on my GTX 970.

xircon · May 8, 2024, 8:23pm

No, no news.

Naarmu · May 10, 2024, 2:57am

I think generally NVIDIA under x11 is just not well optimized. Wayland is the better option but it does have it’s own issues too regarding apps, games(random issues). There should be a beta NVIDIA driver coming this month that should fix a lot of problems with NVIDIA under Wayland.

As for x11
I put in /etc/enviroment these lines of settings.

CLUTTER_DEFAULT_FPS=120
__GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE=DP-0 #[highest refresh rate display]
__GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK=0
KWIN_X11_REFRESH_RATE=120000 #[highest refresh rate, multiplied by 1000]
KWIN_X11_NO_SYNC_TO_VBLANK=1
KWIN_X11_FORCE_SOFTWARE_VSYNC=1

This will not fix all issues in x11, certain things will be smother and some not.

You can also try in NVIDIA settings GUI, under OpenGL settings uncheck “Sync to Vblank” and “Allow Flipping”, though I am not sure if these even help.

Also in NVIDIA settings GUI, under X Server Display Configuration in Advanced, you can check “Force Full Composition Pipeline” , but note that this can drastically effect badly in games.

keks · May 21, 2024, 7:10pm

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I think I am also affected.

My system:

                   ./sssso-                ------------- 
                 `:osssssss+-              OS: EndeavourOS Linux x86_64 
               `:+sssssssssso/.            Host: MS-7D31 1.0 
             `-/ossssssssssssso/.          Kernel: 6.9.1-arch1-1 
           `-/+sssssssssssssssso+:`        Uptime: 1 hour, 50 mins 
         `-:/+sssssssssssssssssso+/.       Packages: 1399 (pacman), 18 (flatpak) 
       `.://osssssssssssssssssssso++-      Shell: bash 5.2.26 
      .://+ssssssssssssssssssssssso++:     Resolution: 2560x1440 
    .:///ossssssssssssssssssssssssso++:    DE: Plasma 6.0.4 
  `:////ssssssssssssssssssssssssssso+++.   WM: KWin 
`-////+ssssssssssssssssssssssssssso++++-   Theme: Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3] 
 `..-+oosssssssssssssssssssssssso+++++/`   Icons: breeze-dark [GTK2/3] 
   ./++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/:.     Terminal: konsole 
  `:::::::::::::::::::::::::------``       CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12700K (20) @ 4.900GHz 
                                           GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate 
                                           GPU: Intel AlderLake-S GT1 
                                           Memory: 3792MiB / 64089MiB

cat /etc/default/grub | grep nvidia
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT='nowatchdog nvme_load=YES nvidia_drm.modeset=1 loglevel=3'

pacman -Q | grep nvidia
lib32-nvidia-utils 550.78-1
nvidia 550.78-4
nvidia-hook 1.5-2
nvidia-inst 24-1
nvidia-settings 550.78-1
nvidia-utils 550.78-1

pacman -Q | grep vulkan
lib32-vulkan-icd-loader 1.3.279-1
vulkan-headers 1:1.3.285-1
vulkan-icd-loader 1.3.285-1
vulkan-tools 1.3.269-1

1 screen (currently) and it sometimes lags while nothing is going on basically and just dragging around some chrome window (or even moving around the cursor, or while typing) or watching a youtube video. Its like a “microstutter” every few frames for no reason.

I am running nvidia-dkms on 550.78. (Was thinking I should try the new 555 driver, but I think I will wait for the stable release)

“Sync to Vblank” and “Allow Flipping” are disabled via nvidia-settings and im using grub, but have default values in there.

I’ve tried Wayland but its unsuable for me. Constant window flickering on any window (but specially chrome; firefox was fine) and same symptoms (stuttering).

Anyone got a idea how I could find out whats going on?